ANTHONY PHILLIPS & RICHARD SCOTT: INVISIBLE MEN

Some interesting and even enigmatic phenomena may occur when a progster makes pop. Of course it was a great shame for the author of Back To The Pavilion to release Invisible Men. Everything is ugly on this album, starting with the cover design and finishing with lightminded, loutish and worthless music. As for the vocals... no, I'd better keep silence, OK? I remember some late 1980s interview with Banks, he told how Gabriel became a Genesis vocalist instead of Phillips who did the singing in their first days... well, in brief, Anthony Phillips is not Mario Lanza, no one would dispute this. But even this faulty album has its moments. I mean the aforesaid enigma of a progster falling into pop. Sometimes the result is impressive. Not Voyage Voyage of course, but... a pop cake with the icing on it. For example, Foreigner started as progsters in 1977, and ended up with Waiting For A Girl Like You and Girl On The Moon in 1981. Phillips pleased people with a lousy pop album in 1983, but it contains three really charming pop tracks, The Women Were Watching, Falling For Love and Guru. Maybe enough to acquit Invisible Men?